>This is a change in behavior.

>I am not sure what the solution is but the situation is getting worse and quickly.

The solution is legislation and enforcement. Driving at night now makes me afraid for my safety because I'm literally blinded by oncoming traffic, and I'm sure that many other people share the same sentiment. I would happily argue that driving with lights bright enough to impair other drivers counts as wreckless driving and ought to be treated as such, but as far as I can tell, there are no legislative limits on directional lumen output or directional calibration for front-facing lights on cars, which leaves "wreckless" open to interpretation. This issue requires legislation that affects car manufacturers to prevent them from putting dangerous lights in their cars, and legislation that requires regular inspection of cars regarding their lumen output and headlight calibration. Most US states already require yearly inspections for emissions for most cars in order to re-register them; there are already means and methods in place for this to happen, it just needs to be done.

I'm sick of feeling like im going to die every time I drive home because some asshole wants to see everything a mile in front of him.

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Wistar 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Adaptive headlights that actively shield oncoming drivers were finally made legal in the US in 2022 but complicated bureaucratic hoops make them hard to implement. BMW seems to have them working as I find their higher-end lighting (ex: ICON Adaptive w/ Laser Light) to be among the best to oncoming drivers—at least to my eyes.

CNN writes about why headlight brightness is worse in the US than in other countries:

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/02/15/cars/headlights-tech-adap...

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Zak 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

The USA seems to suffer from a not-invented-here problem when it comes to automotive regulations. Most of the world adopted the European standard for adaptive headlights, but the USA had to spend years coming up with its own incompatible standard.

	▲	gmueckl 5 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		It's not a bug, it's a feature? US manufacturers are not widely known for technological innovations. Deviating standards are a way to keep them competitive in their domestic market.
	▲	stefan_ 4 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		There is a reason US school buses look like WW2 troop transport and the long haul trucks are museum pieces in all aspects. It's not even NIH, it's just protectionism.

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Espressosaurus 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

It's solving the wrong problem, and doesn't help the typical situation of being on hills, pedestrians, bicyclists, etc.

Just turn the damn maximum output down.

	▲	VBprogrammer 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I have a car with LED lights. It's easily the best car I've had for vision at night. We very occasionally get someone flashing us at night, wrongly believing our high beams are on. However, from a safety point of view, I'm not convinced the trade off is actually in favour of reducing illumination for everyone.

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LeifCarrotson 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

It's "reckless", not "wreckless". Recklessness is often correlated with wreck-fullness.